He told Boro's website: "Normally the first game we play would be against Hartlepool or Darlington behind closed doors at the training ground and nobody would even read about it.

"But we've ended up playing a Champions League team and it's on television. So it was a much bigger game than we would have liked but it was no more than a workout for us, an extension of our training sessions.

"We've done a lot of running and heavy physical work but not a lot of sharp stuff. We were pretty much as I expected at this stage against a team that were much more experienced than us.

"We're now just under two weeks into training and Yak and Tuncay have only been with us for a few days."

Listen to the radio for me then, I'm off to London to renew my US visa . Can't take any electrical items with you, no iPods, nothing. A boring 3 hour wait entails, hopefully they will allow magazines, I'm taking Wisden with me and they'd better not confiscate otherwise there'll be trouble ...

Middlesbrough boss Gareth Southgate was delighted with David Wheater's performance in their 3-0 friendly defeat by Schalke.
He said: "I thought David had an excellent game. He got some terrific tackles in, he read the game well and he can be very pleased with himself."

Raymondo !!!!! i called to the cafe about 3.30 am for tea and toast but you were still in bed i guess!! hope my growling stomach never disturbed you (it woke me) so had to get Mrs keelo to knock us something up and then back to bed for an hour....anyway GOOD MORNING...fookin insomnia